REUTERS/Denis BalibouseA truck dumps five cent coins in the centre of the Federal Square during a an event organised by the Committee for the initiative ‘CHF 2,500 monthly for everyone’ (Grundeinkommen) in Bern October 4, 2013.

It’s important to note that unconditional basic income isn’t a minimum wage (which, incidentally, Switzerland doesn’t have): It’s far more radical. The money isn’t designed to go to the needy — it goes to every adult citizen, regardless of their financial circumstances.

“It tries to fix a system that has been outdated for a while. It is time to partly disconnect human labour and income.

“We are living in a time where machines do a lot of the manual labour — that is great — we should be celebrating.”

Money from the sale of the vault full of money will go to support ‘Generation Basic Income Initiative,’ who say they will use the money to “promote the idea of the basic income worldwide and especially in Switzerland.”

Thus what’s real awesome about the sale of this “money swimming pool” isn’t the Scrooge McDuck fantasies — it’s the subversion of a “truly global luxury marketplace” to help promote a radical egalitarian idea.